Hurricane
by Ashley Rabbit
Summary: None of them expected Loki to be back so soon, especially Thor. Still, all he wanted was to make things better. But Loki still wanted revenge. In the end, neither of them would be able to get through this without someone getting hurt. No slash.


It's been a few years since my last fanfiction, but The Avengers inspired me to try it out again. I wanted to write something dealing with Thor and Loki's relationship, so this idea came to me.

Hope you like!

Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything.

* * *

Bruce had expected a day off from Avengers duty.

He was in the lab with Tony, busy with his research, when Jarvis alerted him that one of his team mates needed some medical assistance. It was Thor. He tried not to worry too much as he rushed upstairs. Thor could heal quickly. But he couldn't help but wonder what he could have possibly gotten himself into.

"Hey Jarvis," Tony said, being serious for the first time after a day full of jokes, teasing, and snark." Can you give us some details on what we're dealing with?"

"It appears that his most serious injuries are a broken nose and broken ribs. Minor injuries are cuts and bruising."

Tony and Bruce exchanged concerned looks. Thor was like a bull and was difficult to take down. But the injuries could have been caused by anything from a fight to a clumsy fall down the stairs. Question was, if it was the former, what could have done that kind of damage?

As soon as the elevator stopped on the correct floor, they rushed down the hall and went through the break room door. In the middle of the room, everyone was standing around the blonde. He was sitting on the couch and looking absolutely...defeated.

"Wow, big guy, you look terrible," Tony said. He went over and stood with the rest of them while Bruce sat down next to their injured teammate.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'll tell you what happened," Clint answered before Thor could get the chance to. "That megalomaniac is back." Bruce didn't miss the way he was flicking at the string on his bow. He didn't know if it was from anger, nervousness, or both.

"I thought he was in a prison," Tony said. "How did he get out?"

"I am not..._ow_," Thor pressed his hand against his bruised and swelling cheek. "I am not entirely sure of how he escaped."

"We're going out to find him," Steve said. He, Clint, and Natasha were already dressed and armed. "I suggest you suit up, Tony."

"A little late to be suiting up. I guess I'm gonna have to remind Olive the other reindeer of that when we catch him."

"I'll join you guys when I'm finished here," Bruce said. "If you haven't found him yet, anyway."

"Right. We should split into teams to cover more ground," Steve said. "You said you were both downtown, right?"

Thor nodded.

"Clint, you and I will start there. Natasha, you and Tony can...Tony, what are you doing?"

"Getting a pre-fight drink. Definitely a must, considering who we're dealing with."

"We don't have time for that!"

"Sure we do! I drink while you bark out orders. See?" He took a long swig of red wine.

"Tony, this is a serious situation. Can you try not being yourself for a few hours?" Natasha said.

"Whoa, take it easy. Did you add character assassin to your resume?"

"Enough, we're wasting time," Steve said. "Is everyone ready? Tony?"

Tony took the last sip of his drink before bringing forth the iron suit.

"Roger that, Captain."

"Then let's go"

They left the room, ready to do what they did best.

"Don't worry, Bruce. We'll save some for you. And I hope you feel better, Thor."

Thor gave him a weak smile, but didn't speak. Bruce sighed and stood.

"Come on. Let's go get you fixed up."

He helped Thor to his feet and lead him, slowly, to the door. His medical area was on the floor underneath them. Tony had it fully stocked with the best supplies and technology. It was an obvious necessity, knowing what they did.

When they got on the elevator, Thor leaned against the wall, letting out a pained little breath. Bruce looked him over. His face had been battered, dark bruises stretched across his face and under his eyes. He had one full black eye. His nose was bleeding. His brand new, once white polo shirt was covered in dirt and blood. His hair, which he had put back into a pony tail earlier was coming loose. He looked like a bullied prep student.

But he had been through much worse. They'd seen it during their three years of being Avengers. He would be torn apart after an awful fight, yet he would still try to talk and smile as if nothing happened. Why did he act like he'd just fought a war by himself, _now_?

"So..." Bruce said. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. They went inside the medical room, where Bruce instructed Thor to sit, while he washed his hands. He then put on a medical face mask and a pair of gloves. He was starting to think that Thor wasn't going to answer him.

He had him take his shirt off and lie down while he hooked him up to Jarvis' monitoring systems. He needed to see where the fractures were and make sure that they weren't severe enough to puncture anything. It was a lot quicker and more efficient than traditional methods. There was, fortunately, nothing too serious. Three small fractures in ribs 5, 6, and 7 and a small break in the nose. There wouldn't be any need for surgery, thankfully.

"He should not have been able to escape," Thor finally said.

Bruce nodded, encouraging him to continue. He prepped the local anesthetic, going over the math in his head, remembering the specifics they had calculated for Thor.

"I do not know what he is planning to do. He had no weapons, no one to help him. At the least, none that I knew of."

Bruce injected him. He flinched when the needle entered his skin.

"I imagine, if you look like this, he must look a lot worse," Bruce said. "How are you feeling?"

"Pained, but I will be fine."

Bruce positioned the light over Thor's face so he could see better while he worked.

"Your brother has a lot of fight in him. But I don't remember you being quite this broken up the last time you two fought."

Thor smiled sheepishly. "Well...I am afraid I have done something quite stupid."

"That so?" He attached a drip to Thor's arm to give him a light sedative.

"Yes."

He thought back to a few hours ago. Thought about his brother's words, the emotions in his eyes, the pain he inflicted on him. He didn't like digging around in the feelings swirling about his soul. Not the ones his brother brought forth, anyway. It was always the negatives. Hurt. Sadness. Anger. But today...he needed to talk to _someone_.

"I had found him outside. It seemed as though he were waiting for me. I had gone to a, I believe it is called a 'pizzeria', that Stark spoke of. I am fond of the Shawarma, but I felt need of change. But Loki, he was not doing any harm. I was surprised and suspicious, so I approached him..."

ooooooooooooooo

Thor had tightened his grip on the hilt of his hammer. Loki sat at a bus stop, dressed casually, leaning back on the bench as if he hadn't a care in the world. At first glance, Thor had questioned if it was even him. He wasn't supposed to be here. But as he got closer, he couldn't question any longer. It was definitely his brother.

He had walked right up to him, noticing that Loki was still just staring into the distance, not paying a bit of attention to him. Thor was trying to decide if he should attack or not.

"Surely," Loki's calm, cool, and accented voice broke the silence between them. "You did not think that you could sneak up on me. Did you?"

Loki turned and looked up at Thor. His green eyes were friendly. He _smiled_. It was as though nothing had ever happened to make them enemies.

Thor didn't trust it. He knew better than to trust him.

"I was not trying to."

Loki smirked. He turned away and stood. "How are you? I trust your little _friends_ are treating you well," his voice was laced with malice.

"What are you doing here?"

"No hello?"

"Loki..." Thor couldn't continue. He should be fighting. Pinning him down. _Something_.

"How?" he finally settled on saying. "How are you here?"

Loki gave him a big smile, outstretching his arms like he was saying _isn't it obvious_?

"Houdini," he said.

Thor lifted his hammer. Battle stance. Better start talking or else.

"Loki, I do not wish to fight you, but I will not hesitate to protect the people here."

"I'm not bothering your people. Yet."

Thor didn't expect the quick move that his brother had just made. He had a mere second to block Loki, who had just tried to headbutt him in the stomach. Thor grabbed his brother's shoulders and pushed him back. As soon as the people around them saw what was happening, they went into a panic. Loki quickly regained himself and tried another attack. Thor turned to the side, avoiding it again, but Loki turned on a dime, drawing back his fist. BAM! It connected with Thor's back. Thor grunted and stumbled forward, but didn't fall. Strength was never his brother's...well, strength. It still encouraged him to get a hit. Especially the first one. Again, he drew back his fist, but when Thor caught his fist and threw him, his confidence waned. Loki fell into a parked car, barely missing some people who were trying to get out of the way...

ooooooooooooooooo

Thor stumbled on his words. The sedative was taking it's effect on him. He wasn't going to sleep, but he wasn't thinking straight either. Bruce was about to start fixing his patient's nose.

"So, no specifics about what he was going to do while he was here," Bruce said. "You said he had no weapons. But he just outright attacked you anyway?"

"Uh huh," Thor slurred.

"That doesn't make much sense."

"He's...he is...difficult...a difficult man to figure out."

"No kidding." Bruce could see the smirking, green eyed man in his mind. His own eyes were turning green at the thought of him. He could feel an adrenaline rush and had to take a few deep breaths to calm down.

Thor, even in his drug induced state, noticed. "Bruce...art thou...you...okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bruce said, eyes now back to their original brown. He reached over and touched Thor's nose. "Do you feel that?"

"No."

"Good."

He went to work, manipulating the bones and cartilage into their correct positions. It didn't take too long. Thor was constantly tapping his finger on the side of the bed. A nervous tick. He seemed relaxed, otherwise, but still...

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Mmhmm."

"Are you sure?"

"Mmhmm."

When Bruce finally finished, he bandaged him up. There wasn't really anything he could do for the ribs, except give him pain medicine. They had been able to calculate the time needed for Thor to heal versus everyone else. He should be fine within a week. He unhooked Thor from the IV and Jarvis and lead him slowly and carefully to a bed on the other side of the room. He gave him some pills, antibiotics and pain medication, along with a cup of water. Thor immediately swallowed them down and drank the entire cup. He immediately asked for a second one.

"Make sure you follow the directions on the bottles," Bruce instructed him as he sat them and the cup on a table beside him. "You need to keep them both in your system. I don't want your ribs to hurt, otherwise, you won't be able to breathe deeply enough. You could develop pneumonia from that. The antibiotics, of course, are to keep you from getting an infection."

Thor nodded and laid down (cringing all the way) on his back. It wasn't long before he was asleep.

ooooooooooooooooo

It was around 2:30 am when Thor woke up. Bruce had decided against joining the rest of the team for their mission. Which was good, because his patient was more than a little disoriented. He had tried to get up and nearly fell over. Bruce tried to get him to lie back down, but Thor weakly struggled, saying that the bed was _most_ uncomfortable. Besides, he had to go find Loki and he was too cold to fall asleep again. Bruce told him he was too weak to find _anyone_ at this point and he could easily get him some more blankets. But Thor practically demanded that he sleep in his own room. Bruce finally gave in, too tired to argue and took Thor up to his own personal floor (they all had one). Five stories later, Thor was sitting on his couch, staring blankly at the floor, with a blanket around him and a mug of hot cocoa in his hands (a sudden craving, he had said). Bruce didn't trust him to stay there by himself, so he sat in the love seat, watching TV.

Thor let out a deep sigh after some time of sitting there. Bruce glanced over to him.

"Still can't sleep?"

"No. I feel...worried."

"I can understand that."

It was a few minutes of awkward silence between them before Bruce spoke up again.

"You know, you never were able to finish telling me what happened."

"Well," Thor thought for a minute. "I forget...no, wait I remember now. I apologize. My mind is still not completely clear. My fight with Loki was a danger to the people around us. I needed to find a way to end it as quickly as possible..."

ooooooooooooooooooo

Loki had stumbled to his feet after being thrown into the parked car. But he still tried to run toward Thor again, with more force. Thor swung his hammer, but Loki was able to dodge it. He ducked and kicked Thor's feet out from under him, but he was up again as quickly as he fell.

This time, he raised his hammer high, bringing forth dark clouds. The wind picked up around the immediate area, Rain swirled around them. Loki could hardly stand. His hand hit the ground, as he tried to stabilize himself. But the wind was blowing him backward and the rain was hitting him, forcefully. Thor made the winds stronger. And stronger.

And stronger.

Loki had to close his eyes. He couldn't fight against _this_. Thor swung his hammer down, pointing it toward him. The winds lifted him and threw him backward. He made contact with a brick building. He couldn't move with the gusts pushing against him. Then, it stopped.

Loki fell toward the ground. It was at the last second that Thor caught him by the leg in mid-air. Thor flew through streets and between buildings, until he found an alley, that was far enough from everyone, to land in. He dropped Loki, rather ungracefully, onto the ground. Loki struggled to get up, but Thor could tell that he was preparing to attack him again. Before Loki could move another inch, Thor grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him _hard_ against the wall. Loki winced.

"ENOUGH!" Thor said.

"A dark alley," Loki said, huffing and puffing. He smirked again. "What are you going to do? Mug me?" He laughed.

"There is nothing humorous here, brother! Speak, now! I have run out of patience with you!"

"Oh, yes. That will change things." He rolled his eyes. "I do find it humorous, though, how over zealous you are about protecting these people."

"They are innocent and have done nothing to you. If you have a problem with me, you should take it up with me. Leave everyone else out of it."

Loki just ignored him.

"You don't even know them. Yet, you would _hurt_ me. Me! Your own _brother_, for them? I do believe your priorities are a bit out of order."

"What happened to not being my brother?"

"Huh. So you _have_ been listening to me."

"Loki, you _make_ me choose. I do not want to hurt you. I love you dearly. You should know that! But you are becoming dangerous to others and yourself."

Thor loosened his grip on his brother. Loki was silent for so long, Thor didn't really know what to do.

"You...do not wish to hurt me?" Loki finally said in a voice so low, Thor could barely hear him.

"Of course not."

Thor cautiously reached out a hand, intending to comfort him by placing it on his shoulder.

Instead, he found it smacked away.

"Oh, _really_? So when you used me as a punching bag, you didn't mean to hurt me? What about when you watched your pathetic friends bully me and did nothing? Even did so much as join in at times! I was always the one to watch your back, yet what did that get me? Nothing."

Thor suddenly felt guilty. "Loki...we were just children then. I did not mean..."

"It didn't just happen when we were children, Thor! It also happened when we were teenagers! Even as grown men! It never changed!"

Loki grew angrier. Thor simply stopped trying to argue and let him talk.

"I was never worth as much to you as these people here are. You speak as though you love me, but you are a liar. You only 'loved me' when it was convenient for you. When you needed me, you were the best brother I could ever hope to have, but afterward? You hurt me as much as everyone else! When you were angry, who usually got the brunt of it? I didn't even know what I had done wrong! I _had_ done nothing wrong! But it didn't matter, did it?"

Loki stood there fuming with his fists clenched.

Thor had a blank expression on his face. Until it evolved into a look of shame. It was then, that Thor put his hammer down. Loki watched with interest, but did nothing.

"Brother," Thor said, sounding tired and sorrowful. "I am _so_ sorry. I truly am. I was a fool to treat you in such a way. I feel so ashamed. You are my baby brother and I am supposed to be the one to protect you, not harm you."

He stepped toward him.

"I wish to make amends."

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Hit me."

First, Loki looked confused. Then incredulous. Then he just laughed.

"Hit you. Really. I do not want to further my humiliation by fighting someone who's going to let me win."

"That is not what I meant. I am not letting you win. I want you to do to me what I did to you. An eye for an eye, if you will."

Loki looked suspicious, at first. He drew back a fist, but paused.

"Well?"

The word barely left Thor's mouth before Loki's fist made contact with his jaw. He gritted his teeth.

That...really hurt.

Loki looked at his brother. Then at his fist. This mean spirited little smile creeped across his face.

It was all Thor could do not to punch him back.

_Don't_, he thought. _He needs this_.

Loki gave him another punch. Other side of the jaw, this time. Another, and another, and another. He punched him in the face so fast and so _hard_. Thor was starting to think that this wasn't one of his better ideas.

_He needs this_, he had to tell the warrior part of his mind. The part that would never let anyone do this to him.

But he couldn't keep letting this go on. It was when Loki decided to hit him in the ribs that he decided to end it. He had felt them crack. He grabbed Loki's wrists and had to wrestle him to the ground to get him to stop.

It took a while for Loki to stop struggling. When he did, Thor let him go, trying to catch his breath. He had just noticed how thin Loki's wrists were. Were they always that thin?

He also noticed that Loki had busted his knuckles open.

He had actually been hitting him so hard that his knuckles were busted open.

That hurt. It really did. That his own brother hated him so much that he hurt himself during the process of punching him. He didn't even seem to notice or care. As long as he got the job done.

Thor rose to his feet. He said nothing as he went to retrieve his hammer. Loki slowly got up. There was a glint of fear in his eyes. He tried to hide it, but he was doing a terrible job at it. A rarity for him. He was afraid that he had gone to far and was about to pay for it.

But Thor didn't attack him.

He just left. No words were said. What else _could_ be said?

He just hoped that now his brother could forgive him.

ooooooooooooooooooo

"I did not know what else to do," Thor said. "I know I should have called you guys. Or I should have taken him to S.H.I.E.L.D. myself. But...I just could not bring myself to do it."

He slowly shook his head. Bruce was leaning forward, listening intently.

He wasn't going to lie, Thor was right when he said he had done something stupid. Letting Loki get away like that.

Thor could tell by the look he was getting that his decision was being frowned upon.

"Bruce, do you have a brother? Or a sister?"

"No, I don't"

"I see. At any rate, I hope you never have to go through seeing this happen to anyone you care for."

Even from where he was sitting, Bruce could see Thor's eyes starting to get red. He got up and sat next to him, putting his hand on Thor's shoulder.

"I really hope not. But I don't think even Loki could doubt that you love him after that."

"He would probably just think that I did it to clear my conscience. I do not think I could convince him of anything else."

"That wouldn't be fair."

"Well, could you really blame him for thinking that way? I have had more than my fair share of chances to fix things and I never did. Now it may be too late. He has gone completely mad and I am partly to blame."

Bruce tried to think of some way to comfort him. But his problems with his brother were so deep, he didn't think he could.

"I'm sorry, Thor. I really am. Maybe he'll come around one day. I hope he does, because he has a lot of apologizing to do himself."

Thor managed a small smile, but he didn't look any less sad. He did manage to down another mug of cocoa that Bruce had gotten for him before he finally decided to go to bed. In the dark, he was alone with his thoughts. Bruce was going to crash in the guest bedroom, in case he needed anything, but he didn't want to bother him anymore. He had done a lot for him already.

Thor couldn't help but think back to the times Loki had spoke of. When there were times that he was so angry he just had to hit something. Sometimes it was Loki who had made him angry, sometimes it wasn't. Either way, he was usually around when Thor finally lost his temper. It never ended well. He tried to control that more when they grew, telling Loki (and everyone else) to go away when he was angry. But he still slipped up sometimes. He always felt so bad afterward. He wished he had tried harder to control himself.

And then his friends...

They didn't like Loki that much. He was just Thor's tag-a-long little brother to them. A bother. They didn't always try to hide their feelings either. Most of the time, Thor would ignore it. Now he wished he hadn't.

He tried to make his mind drift from those thoughts, but they stayed. That was the thing about night time. It was when one's mind would wander. Letting you know what you did wrong, letting you mull over the things that break your heart, letting you worry about the future. It was misery.

It was hours before the thoughts quieted down. The soft blue light of dawn streamed into his window before he finally went to sleep.

* * *

I'm sorry I left a few loose ends (you know, like why Loki is even there in the first place). I'm wanting to tie this to another story I'll be working on soon. But first, I want to know what you think! Thank you for reading this. :)


End file.
